Arrays comprising a plurality of semiconductor pulsed lasers are used to provide intense pulses of laser light by combining pulses of light from the lasers so that they overlap spatially and temporally to form a “combined pulse” of light. Temporal spread of triggering times of the lasers, variations in pulse shape of the pulses provided by the lasers and jitter in their respective rise times contribute to degrading spatial and temporal overlap of the pulses and reducing energy density and maximum intensity of the combined pulse. To an extent that all the combined pulses have a same pulse shape and can be made to spatially and temporally accurately coincide, optical energy of the pulses is contained in a smaller time and spatial volume, and energy density, and maximum pulse intensity of the combined pulse increases. Constraints on simultaneity of triggering the lasers and uniformity of pulse widths of light pulses they provide to generate a combined pulse become more stringent as the pulse widths of the light pulses and a desired pulse width of the combined pulse decreases. By way of example, for laser pulses having a rise time of about 10 ns (nanoseconds) and pulse width of about 60 ns it is generally advantageous to maintain synchronization of triggering times of the lasers and variations in their pulse widths to less than a few nanoseconds.